


Behind Every Great Man

by peoriapeoria



Category: Remington Steele - Fandom
Genre: Episode Tag, F/M, Gen, Identity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-14
Updated: 2013-07-14
Packaged: 2017-12-20 04:23:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/882897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peoriapeoria/pseuds/peoriapeoria
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This takes place after the letter, at the end of the series.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Behind Every Great Man

He's gone by many names. Michael. Harry. So many names. He'd wanted to give Laura his name, she'd been hurt by her father leaving, his mystery was driving her to distraction.

He'd never known his name. He'd suspected that some of the people that had harbored him, though even that was too gentle a term for most of them, were relatives. They should know his name.

Now he understands. Just as they couldn't accept his mother's volition that had led to his delivery, they wouldn't acknowledge her naming him. They had at each house named him as they saw fit, gave him tasks as they saw fit. He expects that his survival in main belongs to the pride of small girls presented a task, until he could walk with any assurance.

He'd known he was a bastard. What he didn't know was that he had a father, that he'd not been willingly abandoned. He'd been stolen long before he became a thief. Daniel was dead, buried as hero in two places.

He had been so angry as a young man; fourteen was a man then, not really, but yes. He didn't look it, he could convince people he was eleven, though he was a light enough touch that it wasn't a big concern.

Daniel had caught him by special knowledge. He could have been a cop.

As a mentor in the art of the professional thief, Daniel had been more of a father than he'd seen outside of the movies. That was the secret, as he was shuttled about. He might be a nameless bastard, but he didn't belong to anyone, unlike the other inmates of those houses. Daniel had fed him, clothed him, done his best to fix the poor instruction he'd received when no alternative had presented itself, and given him skills.

It turned out that Laura didn't care as much about his name. She'd wanted his honesty, something he didn't even think he had. He hadn't considered that not having an answer was an answer.

And now, he has a name. Remington Harrison Michael Steele. He's got paperwork, real paperwork, not the forgeries he's always had. State Department had pushed it through. On paper, his parents are more respectable than his parents. He keeps in his heart the mother he never knew, now named, now with some image, and the man that did raise him from a movie struck guttersnipe.

He'd not been ready for Daniel's revelation earlier. He can see all the ways that Daniel tried to make sure Laura and he were solid, made him know that he was choosing this, kept him from conning himself that this was a con.

Some part of him had held onto that, even as he stayed and was faithful to Laura. Held onto it as he became Remington Steele, instead of just inhabiting him.

She didn't give him his accent, but he's got a fondness for My Fair Lady.

**Author's Note:**

> It seems like there is somewhere during the episodes where an in depth article states more of Remington's name than first and last. Please comment should you be able to provide reference.


End file.
